This past weekend we had the opportunity to head up to London for a quick weekend trip. Tiffany and I tend to travel a lot less than we want to and have decided that now is the time to get a lot more traveling in since the kiddo is finally at an age where she is old enough to take part in most of the grown up activities.
We have never been to London as a family together. Over the past 10 years, I have probably visited more than 100x on business, but have never had the chance to really explore … [Read more...]

This past weekend was my birthday - the big 3-5 to be precise - and we took the opportunity to escape Berlin to visit my parents. They live in a quaint mountain village in the bavarian forrest and spending time there is perfect to recharge the batteries since everything is SOOOOO quiet.
However, quiet is not the only thing there - the other things are hills. Big hills, everywhere! Now, Tiffany and I training in Berlin means that we consider larger than usual curbs at street corners major … [Read more...]

This morning was the first long run of the 16 week Hal Higdon novice marathon training plan, which meant heading out for a 10km (6mile run) - the weather, as has been the case for the past few days was absolutely dreadful and I had thoughts of heading back into our cozy warm apartment after the first 10 steps. Cold, windy, rainy and just all together dreadful!
If you want to follow this running route, it is especially easy for those staying in Hotel Esplanade (which you actually run by), … [Read more...]

After starting the 2013 race season with two half marathons (The Berlin Half Marathon and the Spreewald Half Marathon) it was time to go for something a bit shorter to get the whole family involved. While Tiffany enjoyed the Avon Women's Run on Saturday (with my mom, who ran her first 10k) the boys (i.e. my dad and myself) took to the streets on Sunday. We had registered for the Berlin Big 25 race which is a trifecta of distances - 10k, Half and 25km - which all get underway at the same time on … [Read more...]

Ever since I had seen the funky green pickle race medal of the Spreewald Half and Full Marathon at the Berlin Half Marathon Race Expo a few weeks ago, I wanted to run the race to get my hands on this strange medal. When my schedule cleared out and I was still in good share from the Berlin Half Marathon with about 2 weeks of recovery I knew I just had to take the chance.
The race takes place in the rural Spreewald Region on the outskirts (i.e. 90 minutes drive) of Berlin. The region, much like … [Read more...]

2013 had started slowly in terms of running races, this all changed with the 33 Vattenfall Berlin Half Marathon on April 7th. Neither Tiffany nor I had ever run a half marathon before and to be honest, both of us were happy that we had at least run the entire race track a couple of weeks earlier as one of our long runs. To say we were nervous as we made our way out of the house on a very chilly, perfect blue sky April morning.
The Race Expo
The half marathon weekend already began on … [Read more...]

Yesterday, the last day of 2012, was the 37th Berliner Silvesterlauf aka "Der Pfannkuchenlauf“. This New Year's Eve run was hosted by SCC Events (as was the cross country run) and it was an interesting one (to say the least.)
This is what the 9.9km track looked like:
Unfortunately, they didn't quite tell us that we'd be looking at an elevation change of about 170 meters. And for Stefan and myself, who typically run with 0-3 meters elevation change, that was a huge deal. :)
Race day was a … [Read more...]

Berlin is an awesome place, literally 50 yards from where semi awesome have been rock stars (like the Pet Shop Boys) performed last night for the big new year's celebration the 42. Berlin Neujahrslauf took place this morning. Well, not really morning per se, rather a leisurly noon, which was quite appreciated given last night's festivities. This annual tradition is not really a race as such, but rather a leisurely stroll down the middle of one of Berlin's most prominent … [Read more...]

Yesterday was the last day of the year 2012 and it ended with a wonderful 10k race in the outskirts of Berlin on the infamous Teufelsberg. This mountain is an oddity in the otherwise flat as a pancake city of Berlin. In fact, it is the cities highest mountain and has the sad history that it is formed from the rubble of Berlin left over from Allied Bombing during World War II. I had feared that this race might be a bit hilly, but it was REALLY hilly, at least for somebody who has spent the past … [Read more...]

This morning the sun came out and even though temperatures were just barely above freezing it was a wonderful sunday morning to head on out to enjoy a sunday morning run in Berlin. The beautiful thing about Berlin on Sunday mornings is that VERY few people are out at the more popular tourist areas, which of course makes them a lot more pleasant to run through.
This run includes some of the more famous Berlin sights and is quite a bit of fun when you consider that a large part of the run is … [Read more...]

Natural Living

There are so many things we can learn from our ancestors that put us more in touch with our surroundings and let us become more sustainable. And that's what today's post from a special new guest … [Read More...]